Washington, D.C. - Congressman Adam Smith released the following statement on the tax plan marked-up by the House Ways and Means Committee this week:

November9,2017

“Our country’s federal government is already massively in debt and cannot sustain the tax cut President Trump and the Republicans are proposing. It is both bad economic and fiscal policy to be debating a $1.5 trillion tax bill at a time when we are already $20 trillion in debt and running deficits of nearly $700 billion. With deficits already projected to rise for the foreseeable future, this bill will have devastating impacts on our national debt and the priorities that the constituents of my district have made clear they support. We need to be able to invest in our education system, repair highways and bridges, support healthy children and families, advance scientific innovations and research, and provide for homeland security and our national defense.

“History has shown that cutting taxes does not increase revenues or grow the economy. We raised taxes in the early 1990’s, and the country experienced strong economic growth. In contrast, we slashed taxes in the early 2000’s which led to ten years of sluggish economic progress, a ballooning debt, and diminished investment in the economy. Drastic cuts like the one we will be voting on in the coming days will cause serious risks to the future health of our economy.”